The latest addition to my website is Robert Irwin‘s Tom’s Version. This is a sort of follow-up to his previous book The Runes Have Been Cast but it stands on its own. The eponymous Tom meets Molly at an encounter group. Tom is an Irish would-be poet warehouse manager and somewhat naive. He gets unwittingly … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Daniel Kehlmann‘s Lichtspiell [Cinema]. The book gives us episodes from the life of Austrian film director G. W. Pabst, who discovered Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks and Leni Riefenstahl. We follow his career in the US and Germany/Austria. Twice he timed his return to Europe badly. The first time … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Sonallah Ibrahim‘s 1970 (The Last Days).Tthe book tells of the last few months of the life of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. While the focus is on that period when Egypt is involved in the War of Attrition with Israel and the Jordanian Civil War is taking place, … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Ghassan Zaqtan‘s نقل القديم مع الستائر، (An Old Carriage with Curtains). This is an episodic novel with the narrator recounting episodes of his life and the life of his family, in particular his mother, since the Nakba. We learn of Zakhariyya where his mother was born. She longs … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Adania Shibli‘s وسفر الاختفاءتفصيل ثانوي (Minor Detail). This book has been in the news recently (October 2023) as Shibli and her book were cancelled at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The book is divided into two parts. The first is set in rhe Negev Desert, close to the Egyptian … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Jon Fosse‘s Trilogien (Trilogy). This work consists of three linked novels. We start with Alida and Asle. Both are seventeen. Asle’s father is dead and his mother now dies, meaning he has to leave the boathouse where he and his mother lived. Alida’s father is also dead and … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Jon Fosse‘s Kvitleik (A Shining). A man who lives alone drives his car into a forest and gets stuck. There has been no sign of human habitation for a while so he does not know what to do. He sees a path into the forest and thinks it … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Stella Gaitano‘s رواح إدو (Edo’s Souls).This is the story of South Sudan, with the background being the upheavals that led to South Sudan breaking away from Sudan, something that affects most of the protagonists. Edo had the misfortune to lose nine of her ten children before their first … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Patrick Modiano‘s La Danseuse [The Dancer]. Modiano’s latest follows the basic plot line of many of his earlier novels. A young man, presumably Modiano’s alter ego, has arrived in Paris and is struggling to make a living. He associates with a group of people, some of whom have … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Sara Gallardo‘s Enero (January). The novel is set on an Argentinian farm and we follow the story of the just sixteen Nefer, the youngest of three sisters. The oldest, Porota has recently married and at the wedding, Nefer was so annoyed at Negro, to whom she is attracted, … Read more